Mother and daughter thrown from boat

WAYWARD:

HUNTSVILLE - Two female boaters are safe following an incident on Lake of Bays Saturday.
According to an eyewitness report, a mother and daughter were thrown from their vessel while boating Saturday afternoon right near Pride of Lake of Bays Marina, located in Dorset. Karyn Boehmer, whose family has a cottage near the marina, said her family noticed the women had been thrown from the aluminum boat and went out to rescue them.
“They (family members) were able to get them into our boat while their boat continued to spin out of control, although other boats were closer but just hovered,” she said.
Boehmer said that a Huntsville OPP boat soon arrived on the scene and tried to corral the wayward boat, but with little luck.
“It took over an hour for the police to wrangle the boat to a safe stop, preventing any injuries or property damage,” she said.
Boehmer said the officer tried two times to stop the boat, by throwing their roped anchor and a roped buoy into the vessel but were unable to lock onto the boat.
She said the officer then borrowed a roped anchor from one of her family members and was able to latch into the boat and secure it long enough for someone to jump in and turn off the motor.
“The whole thing took about an hour and a half, and it took police about an hour of that time to get the boat,” she said.
Boehmer said the two women – their identities are not known – were not injured but shaken by the incident.
She said that her family learned three lessons that day from the incident.
“First, wear a life-jacket no matter how mildly inconvenient or uncomfortable they may be. Second, if you see someone in danger, don’t just sit around and gawk at their expense, but quickly do something constructive to help the people in distress. Finally, be grateful for the police presence on the lake. While many people may see them as an inconvenience they were amazing in the incident and kept a potentially fatal situation very safe.”